As companies try to diversify their learning programs and make training available across a variety of mediums, they’ve been forced to consider how mobile fits into the learning picture. Let’s face it — our phones are an extension of ourselves now:

·       79 percent of users check their phone within the first 15 minutes of waking up

·       70 percent of smartphone users frequently check Facebook

·       78 percent keep up with email on smartphones

Phones keep us connected and help us be productive (and increasingly more social). So when companies begin to update their traditional training programs, mobile has to be a part of the process.

Mobile makes previously irrelevant information relevant. Think about going to a training class that had workbooks and exercises about a product or service you don’t actively use. Sure, the information is helpful, but it’s not retained if it isn’t needed. Then four months down the line, suddenly that training becomes applicable. Is the information still in your brain? Probably not.

Mobile access to just-in-time training gets employees the information they need, when they need it. Salespeople are great examples of employees who are always on the go and need information literally at their fingertips. They can brush up on facts or get updates while sitting in a waiting room, riding a train, or standing around the luggage carousel.

When thinking about adding mobile components to your training, make sure you identify the most important information needed. Transferring a 40-page workbook to a PDF might make access easier, but those 40 pages won’t be helpful on a phone. Instead, identify a quick list of talking points. You can also do a short podcast (and by short, we mean two minutes) of an instructor giving an overview. 

You can always have workbooks, simulations, and additional instructor-led training as part of your learning program. As you think about training with mobile devices in mind, you’ll also start identifying ways to prioritize information for other mediums as well.

Over the course of a few years, things can dramatically change for employees. They could be in new positions, new departments can be created, and other functions of the business might change or

even be removed.

Does your compensation system reflect those changes?

Information is critical to a company’s success, especially when leaders rely on that information to make decisions. As we see a push to more data-driven decision-making, companies need to perform more audits to ensure that their systems have clean data. Just a few errors could cost millions of dollars.

Whether titles no longer relate to the work employees do or salaries need some calibration, it’s time to take stock of where your company is at with its compensation information.  

First, get employee information up-to-date. Having a SaaS system for employee information is a great way to make sure employees keep their information up-to-date. This can be through your HRIS or an employee portal. Send a reminder to employees to update their information, with managers checking titles and workgroup information of their employees.

Second, check salaries. Even if all of your salaries aren’t eligible for calibration against market rates, you can start with key positions. You then need to make a plan to calibrate all other positions, whether by department, type, or location. Ideally, you perform this as new positions are created, as new employees are hired, and when it’s time for annual rewards.

Third, run reports when you can. Many systems have standard reports, but make sure you’re identifying the information you really need to make good decisions. For example, you might want to compare performance data against compensation information, so that would require further analytics. These reports, though, help give context to compensation information in your company. Context helps you know why something might be happening or what other factors could be modified to get the desired results.

Get into the habit of conducting these audits early so your information is clean and ready to be used to make decisions. You’ll better inform your executives and help them understand what it takes to plan for the future.

“More is better!” Well, that’s not always the case when it comes to 360 degree review raters. In preparing to collect feedback from peers, customers, supervisors, or direct reports, you might want

to hear from everyone.

Unfortunately, too many raters could lead to ratings “averaging out.” That means two things:

1.     There might not be anything different between the third person’s rating and the seventh's. They’ll probably be pretty similar.

2.     More raters bring the average scores to the middle. It’ll be hard to see areas where you exceed or don’t meet expectations.

It’s always good to request feedback, but you’ll miss important feedback or trends because of the averages. Instead, find the right number of raters so the feedback is there with the benefit of multiple perspectives.

So what’s the right number?

·       1-2: With such a low number of raters, the feedback is no longer anonymous. One skewed rating could also be an outlier, but without other raters, you wouldn’t know if that’s typical behavior or someone being severely subjective.

·       3-4: Here’s a good sweet spot because if there is an extreme rater, the others provide the balance. The group doesn’t get too big though, so the feedback is going to better reflect performance.

·       5+: Raters start to blur after five, and you start seeing the averaging effect. Plus, you might also burn out your raters if they’re already filling out a number of 360 degree reviews for other employees.

For each group of raters (peers, direct reports, etc.), shoot to have three to four raters. You’ll get clear feedback, and raters will maintain anonymity. Then, putting together your development plan will be on target to reflect your strengths and needs based on the 360 degree review.

Today’s universities lead innovative research programs — developing robots, curing diseases, and finding alternate fuel sources. In contrast to these cutting-edge endeavors is the fact that the

university probably runs on antiquated internal management systems.

The danger in an antiquated system, for any business process, is that information accuracy becomes compromised. The system might not have been configured for the higher education environment. Updates might never have been installed. And user adoption could be low, raising the administrative responsibility of system owners and primary users.

Updating system automation doesn’t have to be a massive overhaul. In particular, performance management systems might be one of the easiest to move from manual, paper-based processes to an online system.

Higher education institutions achieve three things with automation:

1.     Increased user adoption: SaaS systems make it easy for individuals to manage their own information, rate their own performance, maintain their goals, and even provide feedback to other employees.

2.     Reduced costs: While the upfront cost of a system upgrade or installation might hurt the budget, over the long run, universities can save money on administration and paper management. Additionally, everyone saves time because it's clear who’s filled out their reviews and who’s behind. System notifications are a faster way to communicate than chasing down every staff and faculty member’s review.

3.     Flexibility: Performance management has to be meaningful for employees in order to really have an impact. Customizing the competencies is another easy way to make sure that, say, an aerodynamics professor and the undergraduate admissions director are getting the same performance management.

Look into systems such as Reviewsnap when it's time to upgrade your performance management solution. Find a provider that understands the challenges of a higher education institution and can help get the most value from the solution.

Middle management has been stuck between a rock and a hard place for the last several years. The tough financial times after 2008 might have stripped many of the jobs in the middle for the sake of a leaner organization. As things perk up, there’s more pressure to attract and retain young millennial workers. A middle manager might one day say, “I’m tired of being stuck in the middle.”

Before that happens, make sure you’re targeting midlevel managers in your performance process. They’re the people who have to bridge the gap between strategic thinking and everyday logistics. They bring experience that millennials haven’t yet acquired. And they’ve learned how to do a lot more with less as organizations pushed lean to a new extreme.

First, set clear performance expectations. When a middle manager has strategic and tactical responsibilities, performance management for his level is likely to be vague. Utilize tools like cascading goals to identify which responsibilities have strategic components and what tactical activities will help accomplish those goals.

Next, communicate frequently. One Huffington Post article noted that digital communication tools are removing some of the good communication habits that make successful managers. These middle managers need to maintain those skills, but executives should be exhibiting the same direct communication behavior. Disseminate information in an effective manner so middle managers are informed. They can then make the right decisions for their teams because they have all the information. Sharing frequent updates will make sure their performance is aligned with executive expectations.  

Finally, be ready to make a shift when necessary. Goals for middle managers can sometimes remain stagnant, especially if they’re not clearly linked to overall strategic initiatives. Instead, when new priorities arise, revisit goals for middle management. Which ones need to be updated, which ones need to be dropped, and which ones need to be added?

Performance management is important for all levels of the organization, but middle management is still where strategic vision comes to life. Make sure you’re setting your organization up for success by creating a targeted performance management plan for this critical group.

Focusing Performance Efforts on Midlevel Managers

Companies have been putting more money into their learning and development budgets. In fact, Bersin by Deloitte’s 2013 Corporate Learning Factbook shows that U.S. organizations grew their

spending by 12 percent in 2012.

With all those dollars being allocated to training, are your employees taking advantage of the opportunities? It’s easy for employees to forget or even miss that there’s learning management software available to them. Courses that are relevant to their job might be hard to find, lost in a large library of titles.

Instead of sending reminders, take a marketing spin and create internal case studies of what employees learned and how the training applies to the job.

1.     Find people who are your power users. Your LMS or learning content management system should track who’s using what courses or downloading additional resources.

2.     Interview them about the courses they’ve been taking. Approach the power users and ask about their experience. Make sure they’re getting value from the training and would be willing to participate in a promotional case study.

3.     Learn how the training has impacted their performance. Training should help employees do their jobs better, so ask how the training has made a difference. Also ask how the team’s performance might have been improved.

4.     Include insight from their managers. Managers could be encouraging development, or they might not even know employees are going the extra mile to train themselves. Find out what each manager knows, including how improved performance could be changing the way those managers work toward developing the rest of their teams.

5.     Capture the story. You can capture the story in any number of ways — writing an article, taping a Q&A, or even making a video. Make sure you put the story in a format that’s easy for other employees to consume when you share it with the rest of the organization.

Keep tracking use in your LMS so you can find additional power users and see which case studies might have increased usage overall. It’ll be powerful information to share with your executive team, and it can help ensure future budget increases for training.